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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > November > 07 > Entry
Review: ‘Guest by Courtesy’
Hannah Kenah and Jenny Larson have a natural chemistry onstage. Their ease of expression is apparent in “Guest by Courtesy,” a comedy written by Kenah about two cousins who are at times at hysterical odds with one another, and at other moments poignantly in tune with each other.
Upon entering the Salvage Vanguard Theater, the audience is greeted with a strange domestic image: a white couch upon which sit two women, all covered in a white sheet. As the sheet slips off the back of the couch, the cousins come into being — Kenah in a frilly, pink floor-length gown, Larson in a blue dress complete with a white bib. Larson is exaggeratedly slouched, her face donning a grimace of sorts, while Kenah sits upright. Slowly, they switch positions; this is their metaphor.
Over the course of an hour or so, the cousins laugh and fight, wrestle and dialogue. “You are a crazy bitch,” they tell each other one instant; “Confession: I have forgotten how to read,” says Kenah the next (“You can’t be lounging naked without literature,” is Larson’s response). The third actor, Jason Hays, provides a break from the Kenah-Larson duo in his portrayals of Kenah’s husband and Larson’s love interest.
The physicality of the performances is the ribbon that holds the package together — wild facial expressions, sweeping gestures and encroachment of personal space punch up the entertainment value. Oftentimes, the movement is as important as the dialogue. Every so often, a spare piano soundtrack begins to play (original score by Graham Reynolds), morphing our reading of the cousins’ actions into an odd ballet of kind.
Though markedly unique in character, the cousins never stray far from one other; they are bound by family history, whether they like it or not. Most of the time, it all works out just fine.
“Guest by Courtesy” continues through Nov. 19 at Salvage Vanguard Theater. www.salvagevanguard.org
Claire Christine Spera is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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